Raps vs Celtics: Preseason - Fri, Oct 10th, 2025 - 7PM EST

[Thaddy]

gradey's offense looks to have gotten better every year but his defense looks just as bad as his days as a rookie

Did you not watch?

Casuals just echo the old talks. RJ and Gradey have improved a lot since before

[Duffman100]

gradey's offense looks to have gotten better every year but his defense looks just as bad as his days as a rookie

Did you not watch?

Casuals just echo the old talks. RJ and Gradey have improved a lot since before

Dicks defence was still pretty bad last night.

[Thaddy]

Did you not watch?

Casuals just echo the old talks. RJ and Gradey have improved a lot since before

Dicks defence was still pretty bad last night.

It's trending in the right direction though.

[mihaic]

I only typed in Lowry, cause they are essentially twins in this case. And i dont care if it is "only" year 5th. I care about progress, and i dont see little to no growth in Barnes game. I hope this year will be different. Dont get me wrong, i want him to succeed, but the notion that is above beeing critized for things he already should have learned is just wrong.

You keep moving the goalposts.

YOU said 5th season for Demar making the playoffs. I simply pointed out Barnes has only played 4 years. That's all.

I agree with you he needs to be better. My opinion hasn't changed as I have continually said, Barnes:

Can't shoot the 3
Can't blow by his man
Doesn’t have a go to move
Is uncoordinated
Etc...

Yet has managed to be a 19-7.5-5.5 guy as well as won ROTY and an All Star while never playing with shooters. And he was deemed furthest away from his prime on draft day. And has taken over 4th quarters.

So the "hope" has been that some of those things possibly got better over time. But it hasn't, on offense. Defensively he has gotten much better.

The one thing I never understood, as a rookie the Raps had him post up at the top of the key with good results. We should all remember him going right after Durant and shooting over him. But then they started moving him around more to try and expand his game when they should have made him a go to bucket at that spot. And it took to last year to try and re-establish scoring from that spot.

Go back and read what the topic was. Mikistan was trashing DeRozean, but excuse Barnes from any form of critique. What i basicly said was, that Barnes has to deliver first, before he can even think about putting Barnes above DeRozean. I dont understand the hate for DeRozean in the first place, he was great for the team.

So yeah, i stayed on topic, whilst others like you went to shield Barnes again. I am f***** tired, that everytime someone says anything remotely negative about him, people come out with pitchforks. Its his 5th year, we can have some reasonable expectations from him. And for me its progress in his game, which are very little. This year, there are 0 excuses if it doesnt work again.

Especially given his salary. His salary took a step up but he didn't. Unless he takes that step, this won't go well.

[MEDIC]

I really like Chucky's game. If he ever develops a decent 3 point shot, Shead will have to start looking over his shoulder.

And I really like Shead.

The internal competition on this team is going to be good for player growth. Too many of these guys have been gifted minutes.

[PushDaRock]

It sounds like Tatum might be able to play before Christmas. I wouldn't count that team out yet.

Seems like he got the speed bridge so I would say his chances of returning this season are pretty good. His effectiveness on the court is the bigger question.

[bballsparkin]

Dicks defence was still pretty bad last night.

At the same time he's not yet 22 years old. He'll get stronger yet. So the defence will improve. And since he wasn't drafted for his defence it's nice to see him having some success offensively.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Dicks defence was still pretty bad last night.

At the same time he's not yet 22 years old. He'll get stronger yet. So the defence will improve. And since he wasn't drafted for his defence it's nice to see him having some success offensively.

Defense? This is the NBA.

[bballsparkin]

At the same time he's not yet 22 years old. He'll get stronger yet. So the defence will improve. And since he wasn't drafted for his defence it's nice to see him having some success offensively.

Defense? This is the NBA.

True to some degree. You can't be a sieve without exceptional offence nonetheless.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

At the same time he's not yet 22 years old. He'll get stronger yet. So the defence will improve. And since he wasn't drafted for his defence it's nice to see him having some success offensively.

Defense? This is the NBA.

True to some degree. You can't be a sieve without exceptional offence nonetheless.

The reward for offense, is so much greater.

[bballsparkin]

The reward for offense, is so much greater.

It's an offensively driven league no doubt. That is the potential with Gradey if he can come to fruition.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

The reward for offense, is so much greater.

It's an offensively driven league no doubt. That is the potential with Gradey if he can come to fruition.

They give you free throws for offense, and fouls for defense.

[Troubadour]

The Celtics were blowing out the Raptors and then gave up the lead when it was 3rd and 4th stringers fighting it out. I wouldn't reach too much into the result itself.

[Grew]

Did you not watch?

Casuals just echo the old talks. RJ and Gradey have improved a lot since before

Dicks defence was still pretty bad last night.

If you think that was bad defense you simply weren't paying attention. One of Gradey's most active all around games. At no point did he even look like a weak link on D in that game. The only valid criticism is that it wasn't against the strongest competition.

He almost looked like a different person in that game compared to last season. Fighting around screens, pressuring the ball. He missed like one rotation all game, and it was more of a communication breakdown during a scramble. Dude was getting after it out there. That was the most effort and confidence I've seen out of him on that end. If he could replicate that all season long, he would be an average to above average defender in this league.

Saying something critical about his D in that game without first acknowledging that he looked improved, is either just straight hating, or you've been brainwashed in to believing he's always bad on that end all the time, with no redeemable quality there.

[Duffman100]

Casuals just echo the old talks. RJ and Gradey have improved a lot since before

Dicks defence was still pretty bad last night.

If you think that was bad defense you simply weren't paying attention. One of Gradey's most active all around games. At no point did he even look like a weak link on D in that game. The only valid criticism is that it wasn't against the strongest competition.

He almost looked like a different person in that game compared to last season. Fighting around screens, pressuring the ball. He missed like one rotation all game, and it was more of a communication breakdown during a scramble. Dude was getting after it out there. That was the most effort and confidence I've seen out of him on that end. If he could replicate that all season long, he would be an average to above average defender in this league.

Saying something critical about his D in that game without first acknowledging that he looked improved, is either just straight hating, or you've been brainwashed in to believing he's always bad on that end all the time, with no redeemable quality there.

Or I saw him getting consistently lost still. Losing guys on rotation. Or missing box out after box out after box out.

If he's improved, it's only slightly.

[MEDIC]

The 1st game Gradey was very upright guarding his man, & was very flat footed. He was reaching constantly & not moving his feet. It resulted in him getting blown by almost every time. I just can't understand how you can be a 21 year old who has played high calibre basketball your whole life & play defense like that. Like I stated in another post, my 13 year old.has better defensive fundamentals.

The last 2 gamea I noticed Gradey was simply being more active on defense (getting quickly to help positions, & recovering, fighting to get around screens, getting lower in his stance & moving his feet better).
That's a good.start. If he can show up like that every game, he will get much better over time.

[JB7]

The Celtics were blowing out the Raptors and then gave up the lead when it was 3rd and 4th stringers fighting it out. I wouldn't reach too much into the result itself.

That was the Celtics roster, minus Brown and White. The Raps sat all of their starters.

The reason the Celtics got out to such a huge lead was they actually played guys that will be starting for them this season, while the Raps played their bench and 3rd stringers all game.

[Grew]

Dicks defence was still pretty bad last night.

If you think that was bad defense you simply weren't paying attention. One of Gradey's most active all around games. At no point did he even look like a weak link on D in that game. The only valid criticism is that it wasn't against the strongest competition.

He almost looked like a different person in that game compared to last season. Fighting around screens, pressuring the ball. He missed like one rotation all game, and it was more of a communication breakdown during a scramble. Dude was getting after it out there. That was the most effort and confidence I've seen out of him on that end. If he could replicate that all season long, he would be an average to above average defender in this league.

Saying something critical about his D in that game without first acknowledging that he looked improved, is either just straight hating, or you've been brainwashed in to believing he's always bad on that end all the time, with no redeemable quality there.

Or I saw him getting consistently lost still. Losing guys on rotation. Or missing box out after box out after box out.

If he's improved, it's only slightly.

I don't believe you really paid attention.

[Duffman100]

If you think that was bad defense you simply weren't paying attention. One of Gradey's most active all around games. At no point did he even look like a weak link on D in that game. The only valid criticism is that it wasn't against the strongest competition.

He almost looked like a different person in that game compared to last season. Fighting around screens, pressuring the ball. He missed like one rotation all game, and it was more of a communication breakdown during a scramble. Dude was getting after it out there. That was the most effort and confidence I've seen out of him on that end. If he could replicate that all season long, he would be an average to above average defender in this league.

Saying something critical about his D in that game without first acknowledging that he looked improved, is either just straight hating, or you've been brainwashed in to believing he's always bad on that end all the time, with no redeemable quality there.

Or I saw him getting consistently lost still. Losing guys on rotation. Or missing box out after box out after box out.

If he's improved, it's only slightly.

I don't believe you really paid attention.

Or I have a different opinion.

[YogurtProducer]

Or I saw him getting consistently lost still. Losing guys on rotation. Or missing box out after box out after box out.

If he's improved, it's only slightly.

I don't believe you really paid attention.

Or I have a different opinion.

Dicks defence to me looked no different. He’s bad there. Who care if instead of bottom 5 in the NBA he’s now bottom 10?